South Korea, US Hold Large-Scale Joint Drills After North Korea's Missile Tests - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th March, 2023) South Korea and the United States on Monday began an 11-day Freedom Shield joint exercise, along with separate large-scale field maneuvers called Warrior Shield, in line with hardening rhetoric against North Korea in response to its missile tests, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, citing officials.

The computer simulation-based Freedom Shield exercise will run through March 23, the allies' lengthiest command post exercise, under scenarios reflecting North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, the report said.

"The combined exercise is a defensive one based on a combined operational plan designed to defend the ROK from potential North Korean aggression," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement quoted by the news outlet.

Under the Warrior Shield exercise, the parties intend to conduct 20 field drills, including the Ssangyong amphibious exercise. Washington is expected to send the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. This is the first such large-scale field exercise since 2019, when the South Korean government decided to reduce joint drills with the US amid inter-Korean rapprochement efforts, according to the news agency.

At the same time, the South Korean air force is conducting its own field exercises, including daytime and nighttime training sorties, as well as contingency procedures on the timely supply of ammunition, emergency restoration of damaged airstrips and response to various terrorist attacks, according to media reports.

North Korea said earlier in the day that it had test-fired two "strategic cruise missiles" from a submarine ahead of the upcoming US-South Korea military drills. The missiles hit targets in the Sea of Japan after traveling the 1,500 kilometer-long (932 mile-long) eight-shaped flight orbits for 7,563 to 7,575 seconds, according to North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency.

Pyongyang said last week that the continuation of Washington's "hostile practices" toward North Korea, including possible military exercises and deployment of strategic weapons on the Korean peninsula, may be perceived as a "declaration of war."